CHICAGO (AP) — Set inside a once-dilapidated 1938 constructing on Chicago’s close to West Facet, a one-of-a-kind museum hopes to vary the notion of public housing in America.
A former federal housing undertaking that underwent a $17.5 million transformation, the Nationwide Public Housing Museum opens Friday and showcases recreated residences from three totally different eras. It’s the brainchild of public housing residents who wished to inform a extra full story about their lives, from the thrill of residing in tight-knit communities to the results of racist housing insurance policies.
“The biggest artifact in our collection is the building itself,” stated Lisa Yun Lee, the museum’s government director.
Remnants of a paint-chipped wall, with cracks and graffiti, greets guests on the entrance. Unique mailboxes with condo numbers scrawled in marker are displayed close to objects belonging to Supreme Courtroom Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who grew up in New York public housing. An outside backyard is lined with decades-old animal statues, as soon as the centerpiece of a Chicago public housing courtyard.
Museum organizers hope to revive such a gathering place and say the placement in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood is vital. The museum complicated contains 15 new public housing residences the place residents will reside. Subsequent door is a metropolis library department that additionally has reasonably priced housing models. A mixed-income growth is underneath development close by.
“It’s a museum that says, ‘There are things that everybody deserves,’” stated Sunny Fischer, a advisor for foundations, who grew up in public housing and is the museum board’s chair.
Museum admission is free although guided excursions value cash.
The museum’s opening confronted delays, as a result of fundraising challenges and totally different mayoral administrations with altering agendas. The constructing was given to the museum by the federal Division of Housing and City Growth. The $17.5 million price ticket is a mixture of non-public donations, together with from foundations, and state and federal cash.
Residents began planning the museum about 18 years in the past because the nation’s third-largest metropolis was within the midst of demolishing public housing high-rises. The formidable and controversial enchancment plan, which displaced hundreds of households, included tearing down Cabrini-Inexperienced, an notorious housing undertaking portrayed within the “Candyman” horror motion pictures.
Residents didn’t need their tales to be worn out with the towers. Among the many unique planners was activist Francine Washington.
The 69-year-old has lived in Chicago public housing virtually her complete life. It’s the place she raised a household and labored as a property supervisor and in meals service. She serves on the museum’s board and hopes to assist counteract stereotypes about public housing residents.
“Show them what we have accomplished, what we have done, what we have been through,” she stated. “Even though we’re in public housing, we’re human beings. We want the same things in life that they want.”
One of many museum’s objectives is to point out how the racial make-up of public housing in Chicago and different locations modified, largely as a result of racist housing authority practices. As an illustration, Black residents had been concentrated in high-rises in segregated communities with few alternatives to maneuver.
The restored residences inside the previous Jane Addams Properties constructing function unique artifacts donated by the households of former residents, together with clothes and dishes. The Thirties condo belonged to a Jewish household whereas one from the Nineteen Fifties was an Italian household’s residence. The third, from the Seventies, was the childhood residence of the Rev. Marshall Hatch, a widely known Black pastor and Chicago activist.
Museum organizers say in addition they had been impressed by New York Metropolis’s Tenement Museum, which highlights preserved tenement residences on the Decrease East Facet. However Chicago organizers say they took it a step additional with a high-tech spin, together with recorded oral histories that play as guests stroll by, handheld screens and a video by a shadow-puppet theater firm that illustrates boundaries Black households confronted to find housing, like redlining.
On the similar time, the museum showcases lesser-known vivid spots in public housing historical past, like resident-organized security patrols and cooperatives to promote groceries. Public housing residents referred to as “ambassadors” additionally work on museum workers.
“We had to change the narrative about public housing,” stated Lee. “When you said the words ‘Cabrini-Green’ that brought up a visceral feeling in people. And usually that was one that was a stereotype of what it means to be poor and Black in America. Creating exhibits that challenge that narrative was a really important part of our work.”
Maybe the most effective instance is the “REC Room,” a music studio the place guests can scan albums from quite a few genres to find out about musicians who lived in public housing. That features Elvis and Salt-N-Pepa, whose group member DJ Spinderella lived in public housing and is a museum curator.
A big black and white photograph on the wall reveals beaming residents dancing at a Cabrini-Inexperienced home social gathering.
It’s one of many favourite components of the museum for Gentry Quinones, a museum workers member who lives in Chicago public housing.
“There was also joy and community,” she stated.
Author : LasVegasNews
Publish date : 2025-04-03 19:16:00
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